Stranger: I am calling from *** to collect payment for a past due bill.

Me: First of all, this is my work and do not call me at my place of employment again.

Stranger: That is fine, ma'am. What is the name of your attorney?

Me: I do not have one yet. I will be signing with one very soon.

Stranger: So you don't have one?

Me: ...Stranger: That is fine, we are going to sue you for the amount of $*** that you owe our company. Good luck.

*click*

She completely hung up on me. She never gave her name. She didn't leave her number.

I'm scared.

If I could claim bankruptcy right at this moment I would. I have to have these calls stopped. I can't afford the money I need to give to my attorney. I won't be able to afford it until I receive my tax refund. The early part of February is when I will receive it.

Will I be served with papers before February? February is four months away. If I am served with papers before then I will need to hire an attorney and I can't do it until February!

Also, when you are served with papers do they do it at your work? Will a policeman show up here and make me sign them? Do you get them through a certified letter in the mail? How does this happen? Were they trying to scare me and then they'll call again later hoping I'll have the money and drag it out more before getting an attorney after me?

I really cannot stand this. I never thought I would ever be in this situation. I never thought that I would be faced with bankruptcy and I certainly never thought I would be wanting to do it as soon as possible.

3
comments:

Hi again..I may have missed the answer to this question before but here goes anyway.Can you negotiate with the people that you owe money to? You may already have been down this road or found that it's not the same in the US but in Ireland and the UK they encourage lenders, creditors etc to come to a mutually acceptable arrangement. Here the debt advice agencies (eg Citizens Advice Bureaux) always advise that you or someone acting on your behalf tries to negotiate a temporary solution while you wait for soething else. In my case for example, I paid a smaller (in fact very small) amount for a period of 6 months and then renegotiated the payments after that time. The logic is that if they take you to court it costs them, it costs you and they have no guarantee that they'll get their money any quicker. By negotiating, they can put your case on the pending pile and then concentrate their efforts on those who won't pay.If you are sure that you can pay off a fixed amount by February, you promise to pay a small amount now and then an affordable lump sum when you can.As i said, you might wel have been down that road so if you have, sorry for boring the bum off you!

Can you afford to send these people $10.00 or something similar...your making payments should hold the hounds at bay until you are prepared to do what it is that you are planning...maybe it's worth a shot...good luck!